Sacred Hearts Sarah Dunant

By the second half of the sixteenth century, the price of wedding dowries had risen so sharply within Catholic Europe that most noble families could not afford to marry off more than one daughter. The remaining young women were dispatched—for a much lesser price—to convents. Historians estimate that in the great towns and city-states of Italy up to half of all noblewomen became nuns. Not all of them went willingly… This story takes place in the northern Italian city of Ferrara in 1570, in the convent of Santa Caterina.

DAILY ORDER OF OFFICES IN A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY BENEDICTINE CONVENT

(Exact times will alter according to the hour of sunset and sunrise.)

LAUDS — Daybreak

PRIME — The first hour of the day

— Refreshment

TERCE — The third hour of the day — Work hours

SEXT — The sixth hour of the day — Main meal of the day

NONES — The ninth hour of the day

Work hours

V ESPERS

Before sunset

Smaller meal

C OMPLINE

Before retiring

M ATINS

2:00 A.M.